Ray Kruse Iles is a biomedical scientist who was head of the Williamson Laboratory for Molecular Oncology at

St Bartholomew's Hospital St Bartholomew's Hospital, commonly known as Barts, is a teaching hospital located in the City of London. It was founded in 1123 by Rahere, and is currently run by Barts Health NHS Trust. History Early history Barts was founded in 1123 by ...

in London.

Career

Iles has a particular interest in the interface between rational processing, emotional motivation and endocrinology. He co-founded the ELK-Health Foundation, with psychotherapist Tadhg Ó Séaghdha, in 2004. The ELK-Foundation Health (named after Iles's father, Eric Leonard Kruse) is now the National Institutes for Stress, Anxiety and Depression (NISAD), centred in Lund, Sweden. It still uses the ELK-Health name in its programmes and clinics, which support people needing to change habits that harm their physical and emotional health. Iles's interest in women's and reproduction health led him, in 2011, to become the founding director of the biomarker diagnostic company MAPSciences. Iles is the inventor of new diagnostic technology, six clinical screening tests for pregnancy disorders and Down syndrome/

prenatal diagnosis Prenatal testing is a tool that can be used to detect some birth defects at various stages prior to birth. Prenatal testing consists of prenatal screening and prenatal diagnosis, which are aspects of prenatal care that focus on detecting problem ...

haemoglobinopathies Hemoglobinopathy is the medical term for a group of inherited blood disorders involving the hemoglobin, the major protein of red blood cells. They are generally single-gene disorders and, in most cases, they are inherited as autosomal recessive ...

thalassemia Thalassemias are a group of Genetic disorder, inherited blood disorders that manifest as the production of reduced hemoglobin. Symptoms depend on the type of thalassemia and can vary from none to severe, including death. Often there is mild to ...

, and

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

, and two

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

-related patents. His academic career, after leaving St Bartholomew's, included being Professor of Biomedical Science at

Middlesex University Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated to MDX) is a public research university based in Hendon, northwest London, England. The university also has campuses in Dubai and Mauritius. The name of the university is ...

heading a Biomedical Science Research Facility, which incorporated molecular pathology, bio-modelling/bioinformatics and environmental health, and then

Anglia Ruskin University Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is a public research university in the region of East Anglia, United Kingdom. Its origins date back to the Cambridge School of Art (CSA), founded by William John Beamont, a Fellow of Trinity College at the Unive ...

. Formerly a regular contributor to Kumar and Clark's ''Clinical Medicine'', Iles left academia to concentrate on the two organisations that he co-founded, NISAD and MapSciences. In 2012, with Suzanne Docherty, he published the textbook ''Biomedical Science: Essential Laboratory Medicine''. NISAD has supported several research projects of Iles and his students in bioanalysis, cancer research, fertility and prenatal care and child development. In 2019 Iles became founding dean at

Abu Dhabi University Abu Dhabi University (ADU) () is a private research university with its main campus in Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and satellite campuses in Al Ain, Dubai and Madinat Zayed. Founded in 2003 by Ali Saeed bin Harmal al-Dhaheri ...

’s College of Health Sciences. In July 2020 he became visiting professor at the Laboratory of Viral Zoonotics,

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Personal life

As a boy Iles attended Mellow Lane Comprehensive School in Hayes, Middlesex. His cousin is the UK Olympic fencer

Richard Kruse Richard Kruse (born 30 July 1983) is a former British right-handed foil fencer and four-time Olympian. In 2015, he was part of the Great Britain team that shocked Olympic champions Italy to win the first European Games gold in team foil, the fi ...

, which was the subject of the BBC Radio programme ''Tracing your Roots''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iles, Ray K British scientists British medical researchers Living people Academics of Middlesex University Academics of Anglia Ruskin University People from Barnes, London Year of birth missing (living people)